Blind to See
by Jacquelina-Comm
Summary: While messing about in a science exhibit, Jedidiah gets blinded.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Night at the Museum.

* * *

"Jedidiah, are you sure this is a good idea?"

Octavius' voice echoed slightly inside the confines of the air vent that he and his cowboy friend were currently exploring. He tried to keep any anxiety out of his voice, brave Romans did not become nervous at the thought of an empty tunnel, but he also knew that if they got stuck in here, it would be a long time before anyone found them. They had, of course, told their men where they were going, but the museum was a big place, and it would take a while to search all of the vents.

"Why? You worried?" Jedidiah asked, in response to Octavius' question. "It's just a bunch of air vents." He gestured at the walls of the tunnel, which to people their size was a wide space indeed. "I wanna see if we can use 'em to get around the building quickly so that we don't have to head back so soon to get back before sunrise."

Octavius nodded. Jedidiah had told him all of this before of course, it was the reason why the General had agreed to the idea at all. Still, now that they were actually doing it, a nagging feeling of unease would not leave him alone. He was certain that some misfortune was sure to pounce upon them if they continued on, but try telling that to the head-strong cowboy currently leading the way with a miniature lantern held out eagerly in front of him. Jedidiah obviously felt no trepidation, and brushed off any worries that his friend had.

The two continued on in silence, lanterns held high to light their way. They were watching for the tell-tale light that would signal an opening into one of the rooms of the museum. It didn't take long, and soon they came right up to the edge of a grate built into the floor of the air vent. The light from the room below illuminated their faces as they peered down to see where they were.

It was a room set aside for the use of temporary exhibits. Larry had mentioned to them that the museum was hosting some kind of science tour for the children, but the mannequins had not been brought in yet so there weren't any confused scientists wandering around the locked room. There were, however, several tables set up with chemical sets. Normally, they would only be empty glass beakers meant for display only, but with the power of the Tablet they were now full of bubbling, nameless liquids.

Octavius could almost see Jedidiah's eyes light up with the desire to explore somewhere that he really shouldn't.

Sure enough, Jedidiah was unlooping the long rope that they had brought with them, a huge grin splitting his face. Octavius thought about protesting, but then just sighed and shook his head. Short of knocking the cowboy out, there was little chance of getting him to stop when he had his mind set on something.

"Jedidiah, what are you doing?" He asked instead.

The Roman's tone of resignation was, of course, totally ignored by his friend, who simply turned the full force of his brilliant grin on Octavius. The dark-haired man felt a little dizzy just looking at it, as if he were looking at the sun. It almost, almost made up for how stupid their following actions were going to be.

For two people three inches in height, sliding down the eight feet of rope to land on one of the tables was a little like a controlled fall from a skyscraper. And they didn't land so much as they collapsed from the rush. Jedidiah, of course, was laughing from the experience, while Octavius was wondering why he kept following the crazy cowboy around on his insane stunts.

"Let us never do that again." Octavius said as he adjusted his helmet, which had fallen down over his eyes during the descent.

Jed just snorted good-naturedly. "Oh, come on, Octy. Where's your sense of adventure?" He asked, still grinning broadly at his friend.

Octavius didn't last long against his friend's charm. He muttered something incoherent and turned away to hide the fact that his face was now as red as his cape. Thankfully, Jedidiah was no longer paying attention, being more interested in one of the beakers of bubbling chemicals nearby.

"What do ya suppose all this is?" Jed asked. He was moving between the vials and beakers now, peering curiously at the multi-colored liquids and occasionally reaching out and touching the glass to see if it was warm. "Huh. Ain't hot at all." He mused.

Octavius watched Jed's investigation with a small amount of anxiety. He wanted to tell his friend to be careful, but didn't want Jed to think that he was mollycoddling him. Instead, he drifted closer, wanting to be there if Jed needed to be yanked out of harm's way.

"Well, isn't this a doozy." Jed was looking at a beaker about twice his height, filled with some kind of red goo. It was easy enough for him to grab the lip and haul himself up high enough to be able to see what the goo looked like up close.

"Jedidiah…" Octavius couldn't help a warning escaping his lips at his friend's rash behavior.

Jed waved him off. "It's fine." He said. "I won't fall in."

Octavius gave a little whine of frustration in the back of his throat. He knew that his friend was a little reckless sometimes, but this was going a bit far.

"Jedidiah, please…" He began, but was interrupted when Jed gave a yelp of pain and fell backwards off of the beaker.

Now, you must understand that Jedidiah had never found anything that before then that his gloves could not protect his hands from. He had even picked up hot coals without any ill effects, so when he stuck his gloved hand curiously into the red liquid, he wasn't expecting anything too bad. It came as a big shock when his glove actually began to smoke and eat through the thick leather like a flame through paper. He was so shocked that he fell clean off the beaker and onto the tabletop, knocking into another beaker on the way down.

Octavius saw the second beaker, which had been precarious before, begin to teeter back and forth under the force of Jed falling against it. He shouted out Jed's name to warn him of the danger, but all that did was made Jed look up just as the glass container tipped, pouring some kind of blue goop all over him.

Octavius very nearly leaped out of his skin at Jedidiah's scream of pain.

"Jedidiah!" The Roman bolted forward, ignoring everything around him as he made his way to his friend's side. Thankfully, skin contact was not what was causing Jed's pain, because otherwise Octavius would have been in massive amounts of pain as well with the amount he was getting on his sandaled feet. Not that Octavius was thinking of himself at that moment, he was too busy using his cape to try and clear the offending stuff from Jed's eyes.

"Augh, my eyes!" Jed moaned, trying to reach up and clear his eyes, only to have his hands gently swatted away by Octavius, who was trying to do the same thing. "They're burnin'! Make it stop!"

By now Octavius' cloak was totally covered in blue goop, and he threw it away impatiently. The Roman looked around, hoping for some way to clean out Jed's eyes. Immediately, his eyes landed on a nearby sink, the only thing in the room that hadn't been affected by the Tablet.

"Be strong, Jedidiah. I will help you, my friend." He said. He grabbed the cowboy and, in a rare show of physical strength, lifted him onto his shoulders in a shepherd's carry. Ignoring Jed's complaints, understandable as they were, he jogged across to the sink and lowered Jed to the bottom. Then he moved around to the sink's handles and pushed on the nearest one until the smallest trickle of water came out of the spout.

Jed had been sitting in pained, confused silence at the bottom of the sink until the water hit him directly on top of the head. Then he gave a small sound of surprise, and shuffled a little to the right to get away from it.

"Don't move, Jedidiah." Octavius called out as he slid down the side of the sink to help his friend. "We need to clear your eyes. Come, stand by me."

Octavius took Jed's arm and gently led him over to stand directly under the falling water again. He then turned the cowboy's face so that it got hit by the water, ignoring Jed's half-hearted wriggling. He found a washcloth draped over the sink's divider and gently used to corner to wipe at Jed's eyes and face. Through it all, the cowboy sat still with uncharacteristic docility, allowing Octavius to work without complaint or protest.

Finally, there was nothing more that Octavius could do, so he dropped the washcloth and turned off the water before returning to Jed's side. For some reason, the cowboy still had not opened his eyes, and it caused a spike of alarm to go through Octavius.

"Jedidiah?" He asked cautiously. "Your eyes are as clean as I can get them. Why do you not open them?"

Octavius placed a hand on Jedidiah's shoulder and was alarmed when his friend actually flinched at his touch.

"Jedidiah?" He said again, prompting an answer from the other man.

"I… I did open my eyes, Octavius." Even if Jedidiah hadn't sounded like he was about to cry, the fact that he was using the Roman's true name, instead of "Kemosabe" or "Toga-Boy" would have set off alarm bells in Octavius' brain. "I just didn't see anything."

And then Jedidiah opened his eyes, and Octavius had to fight himself to avoid backing away from his friend. It looked like the pupils and irises of Jedidiah's eyes had been completely wiped away, leaving blank white orbs in their stead.

"By the gods." Octavius breathed.


	2. Chapter 2

"Octavius?" The Roman's silence after his quiet exclamation agitated Jedidiah. Even being blank white it was obvious that his eyes were rolling around in their sockets as he tried to force them to see something, anything. "Come on, answer me! Don't leave your pal in the dark like this."

The panicked plea snapped Octavius out of his shock, and he realized that at some point he had removed his hand from Jed's shoulder. Without a hand to guide him, the newly-blinded cowboy couldn't tell how far away his friend was, or if he was even there at all. Octavius quickly reached out and grabbed a hold of Jed's hand, giving it a light, reassuring squeeze.

"Fear not, Jedidiah. I will not leave you." Octavius promised, and was relieved to see a shaky smile come across his friend's face.

"Oh, I knew you wouldn't." Jedidiah's quiet murmur was betrayed by how tightly he was clinging to Octavius' hand. "I just panicked a bit is all. Felt like I was floating away into a void or something. Crazy."

Octavius nodded, then realized that Jed wouldn't be able to see the gesture. Instead, he gave Jed's hand another squeeze.

Jedidiah closed his eyes again. It must have been easier to accept the blackness if it was behind his eyelids. Octavius couldn't help but worry about how quiet his friend was being. Normally, the boisterous cowboy had an opinion on every subject, but now he just clung to the Roman's arm as if afraid that Octavius would leave him if he didn't hold on tight enough.

"Come, Jedidiah." Octavius said, giving Jed a light tug to get him moving. "We must get back to the others. Perhaps one of them will be able to help us."

"Let's hope so." Jed agreed.

* * *

It took a lot more effort to get Jed out of the sink than it did to get him into it. Going in, Octavius had simply jumped down into the sink with Jed slung across his shoulders. Going out was harder because Octavius could not climb with Jed on his back, so he had to climb out himself (quickly, since Jed would panic if left without human contact for more than a couple of minutes at a time), and then reach down and haul Jed up after him.

Getting out of the room was another matter entirely. For a someone who had only been blind for about fifteen to twenty minutes, Jed scrambled back up the rope and into the air ducts like a pro. Octavius had gone first, so that he could grab Jed arm and guide him up into the vent, but apparently rope skills came second nature to Cowboys, even when they were missing one of their senses, so the Roman had barely had to do anything.

Neither of them spoke as they made their way through the air vents, their hands clasped tightly together. It would have almost been considered romantic, if it weren't for the fact that Octavius was literally leading Jedidiah along like a lost child. The silence was almost complete, the only sounds being their breathe and their footsteps, both of which were almost inaudible. Every once in a while, Octavius would feel Jedidiah squeeze his hand, as if to make sure that the Roman was still there, but the blinded man made no attempt to speak.

Octavius, for his part, made no attempt to look at his friend. Granted, he could not see Jedidiah's disturbingly blank, white eyes due to the cowboy keeping them closed, but his friend's face was still very vulnerable. There was a seemingly permanent expression of helpless anxiety spread across Jed's normally confident features, and it made the Roman's stomach roil sickeningly every time he looked upon them. Guilt was the main emotion he felt, for having let his friend mess around in that science room. He knew, of course, that there was no way that he could have gotten the cowboy to leave short of tying him up and carrying him back to his diorama, but that didn't make him feel any better.

"Something feels different."

Octavius immediately stopped and looked back at Jedidiah. The Cowboy held up his free hand in a manner that suggested he would have looked at it if it weren't for his current optical situation. A puzzled frown settled across Octavius' face, and he held up his own hand in unconscious imitation of the blind cowboy.

"Is there a breeze picking up?" Jed asked, still holding his hand up.

This set off little warning bells in Octavius' brain, and he held up his hand in earnest this time. Yes, there definitely was a slight breeze.

"We need to move." He began pulling Jed faster through the ventilation, although he was still careful not to let the other man trip. "Hurry."

Jed didn't complain. Octavius had asked him if he was okay when they first got into the vents, and had gotten this reply: "Feels weird. Like I might step off a cliff at any moment, and never know the edge is there until I'm falling." If the Roman felt enough urgency that he would ignore Jed's comfort (or lack thereof), then there was a reason for it. So the Cowboy didn't complain, just hurried after his friend and tried to keep his anxiety levels in check.

A second later, the reason for Octavius' fear was explained when a sudden wind came rattling through the ventilation. It was so strong that it picked up both miniatures as if they weighed nothing at all, and swept them along in its midst. Both men cried out as their grasp on each other was ripped apart, leaving each alone to ride out the dizzying, uncoordinated, insanely fast ride that was the ventilation system.

"Jedidiah!" Octavius tried to shout, but the wind ripped the words from his mouth and carried them away. He couldn't see his friend, except for occasional glimpses of color. He wanted to try and grab onto him again, but he couldn't even figure out which way was up, let alone which way to turn to get to Jedidiah.

Jedidiah was also trying to scream, although even he wasn't sure if he were actually trying to form words or not. He had thought the void he had floated in the last time Octavius had let go of him was bad, but this was ten times worse because he was also being flung around like a pea in a rolling barrel. Find the off switch, because he wanted off this crazy ride!


	3. Chapter 3

Whumph!

After what felt like an eternity of tumbling about in the endless void, Jedidiah landed on something soft enough to break his fall but hard enough to knock the wind out of him. For a second he just lay there, trying to keep his breath even so that he wouldn't throw up. He must have flown out of one of the vents, because whatever he was on did not feel like lint, and he could sense the wide expanse of a Gigantor-sized room around him. Finally, he pulled himself into a sitting position, instantly hating the unbalanced feeling he got.

"Octavius?" He called out hesitantly. He hoped that Roman had come out of the same vent, or one close enough to hear him. "Octy? You there?"

"Jed?" That wasn't Octavius' voice, but it was better than nothing. Jed had never thought that he would be relieved to hear Larry Daley's voice speaking to him.

"Gigantor? That you?" Jed raised his head without thinking and his eyelids opened. He heard a sharp intake of air, and quickly shut them again. He didn't know what his eyes looked like now, but this was the second time in as many instances that he had gotten a shocked reaction from the person looking at them, so they must have looked hideous.

"Jed?" Larry sounded tentative, as though the slightest force in his words would shatter the cowboy. "What happened to your eyes?"

"It's a long story." Jed replied, going forward onto all fours so that he didn't feel like he was constantly balancing on the edge of a precipice. "Is Octavius in the room? I can't see anything."

Jed could feel Larry's bulk moving closer to his location. He wanted to back away, but didn't think he would be able to keep his balance. While he was thankful that he no longer felt like he was floating away into a void, he still felt like he was on the edge of a cliff and that the smallest wrong move would overbalance him and cause him to fall back into the void he had just escaped from.

"I haven't seen Octavius. Do you need help?" Larry's voice was thickly laden with concern, and Jed grimaced. He had his pride, and he hated being vulnerable like this, but he also knew that he had absolutely zero choice in the matter.

"Just find Octavius." Jed snapped. His desire to be manhandled by Gigantor's giant, clumsy fingers was even less than it was when he had actual working eyes. "I don't need any help from you."

Unfortunately, Larry seemed to have other ideas. "Yes, well, I can't leave you here by yourself, so..."

Jed dug his fingers further into the fabric beneath him, trying to make it so that Larry would not be able to lift him up against his will, but felt it be ripped from his grasp as he was dragged into the air by gentle but uncompromising fingers. Immediately, any sense of solidity that he had obtained before was gone, and he had to fight to keep from hyperventilating. His mind was trapped in indecision on whether to try and wriggle out of Larry's grasp (a terrifying prospect at the moment, because he had no way of know how high up he was), or stay in Larry's hand and hyperventilate. Because while he needed someone's touch to ground him, he also needed to be in control of his own body; a need that was being taken from him by Larry's much greater size.

"No! Put me down!" Unlike his usual demands for Larry to stop man-handling him, these protests were prompted not by indignation, but by discomfort and fear. "Larry, put me down now!"

* * *

Larry Daley had not expected to find anything except for his middle-of-the-night meal when he went into the break room. The exhibits were, for once, all behaving themselves, and Teddy had promised to patrol the building so that Larry would be able to eat something and take a nap in peace. He managed to finish his sandwich in peace, but never got around to his nap. Instead, he got to watch a bedraggled-looking Jedidiah shoot out of the vent to land on the middle of the couch.

Needless to say, finding out that Jed was blind was enormously alarming, and his eyes were disturbing. Larry had never seen anyone with completely blank eyes before, except in zombie or vampire movies. He didn't know what had happened to Jed, but he knew the two people he needed to fetch: Ahkmenrah, to see if his Tablet could help, and Octavius, to help Jed cope. In hindsight, he would be the first to admit that he didn't treat Jed very well in his rush to find a cure and his unwillingness to leave the tiny cowboy alone. Ignoring the Cowboy's protests, he didn't even think before he picked up the miniature between his fingers the way he usually did.

"No! Put me down!" Jed was squirming awkwardly, bearing a fearful expression that was usually so foreign to his cheerful face. "Larry, put me down now!"

That got Larry's attention, and he stopped before he reached the door of the break room. He had never heard the miniature call him by his real name before, not even when he was in danger of being buried alive in an hourglass. To have Jed call him by his real name meant that there was not an ounce of joking left in his little body. He was 100% serious, and 100% freaked out.

Larry very carefully placed Jed down on the table, making sure that the smaller man was seated before he took his hand away. Jed didn't say anything, he just leaned his back against the side of Larry's lunchbox and breathed deeply. They must have stayed like that for at least five whole minutes, with Jedidiah lying, gasping on the table with Larry looming over him in concern.

Finally, Jed reached up and patted his head a few times before realizing that his hat was gone. "Look, just go find Octavius." The miniature cowboy sounded exhausted. His eyes were open, but the lids were drooping so low that they might as well be closed, and he was slouched so far that he was almost lying down. He looked like he would fall asleep at any moment, despite the fact that he still looked a little freaked out. "I don't know where he is, he was in the vents too. I just... I need him to watch my back."

Larry nodded, even though he knew that Jed couldn't see it. "Okay." He said simply. "I'll go find him. You wait here, and I'll lock the door so that no one disturbs you."

Jed nodded back, although his was more of a head jerk than an actual gesture. "Okay." He echoed. "Just... hurry, okay?"

"Okay." Larry repeated, before hurrying out of the room and locking it behind him. He didn't blame Jed for wanting Octavius there instead of him. If he were in the cowboy's boots, he knew that he would be much more comfortable having a friend his own size taking care of him, rather than some clumsy giant. Besides, once they had stopped fighting, Octavius had developed an uncanny ability to calm Jed down. Even if Jed hadn't asked for his friend's presence, Larry would have sought out the miniature anyway.

His eyes landed on the help desk, and he smiled as he thought of a way to find Octavius without running around the whole building.

* * *

Octavius, for his part, had come out of the ventilation system in the Hall of Mammals. Thankfully, the lions had never paid the miniatures any mind, or else there would have been trouble when the Roman landed in one's mane. The only reaction his intrusion elicited was a giant yawn and a shake of its shaggy head that sent Octavius sprawling onto the ground.

Octavius quickly scrambled to his feet. "The Hall of Mammals." He mumbled to himself, before limping away across the floor. He had twisted his knee wrong when he landed, but he didn't care at the moment. He needed to find Jedidiah. For all he knew, his friend was stuck somewhere and panicking himself into a fit of hyperventilation. Octavius wanted to go down the halls, asking everyone he met if they had seen Jedidiah, but he knew that that would be a waste of time and energy. What he needed to do was get to the Hall of Miniatures and round up the Romans and Cowboys to help him search. He would also need to find Larry, so that the night guard could enlist the help of the larger exhibits.

Several of the other exhibits paused to look curiously at the tiny Roman limping down the hallway, probably wondering what he was doing and why Jed wasn't with him. He paid them no mind, focusing instead on walking as fast as possible without putting weight on his bad knee. Where was the RC car when you needed it? At the rate he was going, he wasn't even going to make it halfway there before sunrise.

"Octavius to the front desk, please." Larry's voice echoed over the speaker system. "Octavius to the front desk. I found Jed. Over and out."

He had found Jed. The magic words. Octavius forgot about his knee and attempted to run, but no matter how enthusiastic you are about something, an injured knee is still an injured knee, and it buckled as soon as he tried to put his full weight on it. He managed to avoid falling on his face, but he still collapsed to the floor, clutching his knee and trying not to all-out cry. Jed needed him, this was no time to be weak.

"Octavius?" A shadow fell over the tiny Roman, and he looked up to see Ahkmenrah standing over him. The pharaoh must have been visiting the lions again and come out just in time to see Octavius collapse. He crouched down next to Octavius, his young face concerned. "Are you all right? Do you need a lift to the front desk?"

This time Octavius had to hold back tears for a different reason. He had never been so glad to see the young pharaoh in all his life. Trying to keep what last shreds of dignity he still possessed, he climbed painfully to his feet and gave Ahkmenrah a tight but sincere smile.

"A lift would be much appreciated." He said gratefully.


End file.
